Tide
by Typewriterman
Summary: Summer is on the horizon, meaning parties, school anxiety and weirdness beyond all reason. Shan thought it was normal that she could see ghosts, but her family secret would soon be exposed to more than just a gift.[OC funfilled goodness]
1. Hollow night

**Typewriterman:** My first Bleach fic...wish me luck!

_...And I'd like to mention that thanks to Disclaimer Bot 57-0A63, I can't be sued for copyright infringement or anything similar to that. Why would people care that I'm using their characters for a fanfiction? I should've just bought a PS3 instead...they're cheaper..._

* * *

_**Tide**_

Standing on the rooftops, a lone figure looked down into the American metropolis. He had watched how humanity had built and destroyed the city over the years, today being no exception at all. The sounds of jackhammers, construction vehicles, and yells and orders emanated from several places all at once. Some just blocks away, while others were spaced across the entirety of the city itself. Keeping close watch as per his orders, the figure instinctively predicted the chime of the large clock.

Ding…Ding…Ding…

…_Three o'clock…_

He said to himself. He couldn't help but to smile. "Wait…_three_!?" His eyes bulged at the thought of it, and quickly made his move. Jumping from one rooftop to another, the black robed figure traveled so fast, it seemed like he was teleporting rather than running and jumping. That's of course, if anyone could see him in the first place…

_I'm going to be late…I'm going to be late! _He chanted to himself as he ran. Realizing as the park was now in view; the figure took a sharp left, and then dropped to the lower buildings without hesitation. He landed as swiftly as a cat, without so much as to roll to disperse the bone shattering forces that would push up against one's feet. Instead, he skipped along the gravelly rooftop, and then took a seat onto the overhanging concrete ledge. _Please don't be late!_

At last, across the street from where he sat, school bells rang. Mere seconds later, throngs of students burst through the closed doors, chittering and chattering their way home. Of course, this was no mere school. It was a…

"I _love _private schools!!" He jumped up to his feet. The wooden sandals clacked against the concrete as he cheered in admiration of the spectacle before him. "Such cute uniforms! I wonder if Sereitei would ever allow the girls at the Academy wear those..." Despite his busying his mind with a plethora of possible outcomes, his eyes kept watch and alert at the crowd of girls; sifting through while finding the target. His irises focused on the raven haired girl, and his mind was brought back to reality.

"_There _she is…" smirking stupidly, anyone who had the power to see him would also have noticed the ridiculous cat ears that randomly sprouted from his head. Singling out his target, the raven haired girl was easily spotted amongst the hundreds of others dressed just like her.

"_This is going to take some subtlety…"_

"Hey girl! You can see me, right!?" he suddenly called out. He screamed at the top of his lungs down toward the crowd of girls, yet no one seemed to be able to hear him. The girl in question continued walking along with her friends, and was soon out of view in a matter of seconds.

"Oh well…" he admitted, "Guess its back to work…time to get back to my patrol." Smirking once again, the black garbed figure disappeared in another flash step.

* * *

"Finally!" 

"Yeah, I thought Mr. Green wouldn't let us out at all!"

"I know, he's such a prude…"

The week was finally over with, and the girls of Private School 265 were eager to get started on their weekend plans. There was only one more week of school left, leaving three days for final exams and the last to be a private—in school—graduation ceremony for those girls moving off to their prospective colleges.

"…And Kyle was like…"

"…Oh really? No way…"

Despite all of the happy conversations going on around her, a certain raven haired girl couldn't help but keep a dour look on her face. Of course she would smile when prodded to, laugh when a joke was made, or even crack a snappy remark of her own once in a while. The only problem was, the rest of the time, her face was so serious, that most of the students thought she was scary.

"So are you going to Piezo's party tonight? Shan?"

"Mmm? Oh…I don't know…" The young girl silently winced. If it were anyone other than Jojo who witnessed the reaction, Shan wouldn't know _what _to do. "Sorry about that Jo…"

"Heh, he's just Piezo is all…" she admitted. The taller brunette smiled at her smaller friend, and couldn't help but to muss up the smaller girl's hair.

"Quit tha-"

"-**Hey girl**!"

"_Oh no…" _Shan mumbled under her breath, _"What are you doing now?"_

"What was that Shan?" Nervously shaking her head, amber eyes looked up embarrassed at her taller friend.

"Nothing…nothing…" Shan chuckled. In fact, she laughed uproariously to cover up her earlier murmurings. Assured that she threw off her friend's curiosity, the raven haired girl dropped her head low enough to hide her blush behind her hair. Another benefit was to be able to peek up to the rooftops across the street as well.

_Why's he still hanging around? _

She learned to keep her suspicions inside her head. Hidden amongst the wave of school girls similarly dressed like her, Shan was able to see the dark clothed boy standing and waving down stupidly. In fact, only recently, she had been seeing strange things increasingly and more often.

_Why doesn't anyone else see him? Is everyone around me crazy, or something!?_

She turned her amber eyes back in front of her as she and many other girls descended the steps to the subway trains. Along with Jojo, Shan lived outside the city, more or less in the surrounding suburbs. Following years of redundancy, Shan took out her school identification card in order to pass the station tolls. Other girls did the same, as well as Jojo too.

Shan slid her green tinted card through the card reader, and was instantly granted access to the high speed form of transportation. The other students passed through using their cards as well, using one of four colors each. The tall brunette passed though right after her smaller friend, which held a blue tint instead. The train was waiting for them, and the girls all clamored to get on at once. Luckily for the pair, they not only reached the train on time, they managed to grab seats as well.

A quick jerk signaled the train's departure, as many of the standing passengers braced for it as soon as the mumbled ramblings of the conductor halted. A few stations later, and the train finally emerged from the artificially lit cavern, and into the daylight on the street level.

"So how's progress with you-know-who?"

"With who now?" Shan kept her voice calm. Distracted would be a more accurate term for it.

"You know who I'm talking about…right?" The girl heard the voice closer to her ear, possibly since the taller brunette had leaned closer to it for dramatic effect. But it didn't matter, Shan was too preoccupied with the person sitting next to her. To everyone else they would see an empty seat, but to her, Shan was able to see the familiar bloody apparition still waiting for her stop. The near-transparent woman hadn't always been visible to her, but until recently, had only appeared as a blur hovering over the seat.

"Oh, I guess you're talking to your imaginary friend again, huh?" Jojo chuckled gingerly.

"She's not imaginary Jo…you just can't see her." Shan huffed and faced forward once more.

_And you probably don't see all the other people waiting for their stops too…_ By now the train car would be relatively empty by most people standards, but once again Shan's unique perspective saw what others did not. _Maybe I need glasses or something…_

"Anyways, this is my stop." Jojo chirped as she stood up. "I'll call you before the party tonight. And remember, I want details!"

"Details? Of what?" Shan could never understand what her elusive friend talked about. Of course, she never really paid attention to her for the most part either. Still, one more station, and a few more minutes of walking would provide her the perfect start for the weekend; a nice, hot bath.

Like most things in life, it wouldn't come easy for her…

"Hiya Shan-chan!"

"Knock it off, Ping. You read too many manga as it is…"

Enter Ping Ju…Shan's number one self-proclaimed fan. His classic bushy brown hair screamed out 'bed hair', and his eyes bulged more from excitement than most characters in cartoon shows. Just about Shan's age, the intriguingly hyperactive boy had moved into the neighborhood around a year ago, just in time for Shan's eighth grade of school. It didn't take long for him to be attached to her simply because she let him cheat off her French finals. Since then, he's been a pain in her sides, and even asked her out to senior prom once—three years from now!

"C'mon Shan-chan…why won't you go to Piezo's party tonight? I heard it's going to be awesome!" The boy trailed a short distance behind the quickening pace of his supposed 'idol'.

"Yeah right _party boy_…" she wittingly remarked, "you're just going to take advantage of drunken high school girls…" She tried to take one step per individual sidewalk square in an effort to speed up her pace even more.

"What!? I would _never _do such an underhanded thing…" Before she knew it, the annoying boy had sneaked right up to her ear "_unless it's _you, _of course…" _He whispered with a hiss.

More annoyed than grossed out, Shan instinctively sent a back fist over her left shoulder, instantly knocking the perverted 'otaku' to the ground. "Soh aie-yell pick you up aht sih-cks?" The boy clenched at his throbbing nose.

Ignoring the sniffles of pain from behind her, Shan finally managed to retreat into her two story house. Without any further ado, she rushed upstairs—two at a time—to finally take that long awaited hot-bath.

_

* * *

Why's it so slow around here? _

The dark figure appeared suddenly atop a building rooftop; high enough to see a vast distance in front of him, but low enough to make any necessary drops to the ground faster.

_If I don't get an order within _thirty seconds, _I'll…_

With an eerie sense of time, his cell phone rang, and the boy instantly flipped it open. _Geez what lousy timing…I guess I'm back on the clock then…_ the boy returned the cell phone into his pocket, and lightly rubbed the bridge of his nose. _I thought I'd almost sneeze…_

He began looking around him for any visual landmarks, and gaining sight on the far off supermarket, he disappeared towards the direction of the setting sun.

* * *

"I'm jealous of you Jo…" 

"What do you mean?"

Despite her earlier efforts, Shan was unable to resist the persuasive rhetoric of her brunette friend…

"_Come on Shan…please? Please come!"_

"_Jo…are those…tears!?"_

The raven haired girl sighed at the memory of the incident, and adjusted her hold of the large brown paper bag as she did so. "You know what I mean Jo…we've been through this thousands of times!"

"I know, but I want to hear you say it again." The tall brunette said arrogantly. Even so, there was still a hint of naiveté in her tone of voice.

Sighing again, Shan adjusted her grip on the bag and repeated "those" words as if she were rehearsing for a play. "You're tall, you're gorgeous, your brother's a soccer player, _and _you look old enough to buy liquor…which you do quite often, in fact!" She shook the bag in her hands to prove her point, and the bouncy sound of liquids answered back.

"Well, Petey bought them last time…"

"I'll never understand what you see in him…" Shan exhaled. It would be a few more minutes of walking until the two girls stepped off the supermarket parking lot, but the party hub was conveniently located just a block away. Even though they were both close to ending their status as freshman girls, Shan _still _felt that she was treated as a (lower) underclassman—reduced to fetching party stuffs under constant pressure from the chance of being caught by roaming "Popo".

"So, did you-know-who ask you out yet?"

"When _doesn't_ the kid do that?" Shan shrugged pensively, "at least he's not pulling out my hair or something…"

"Why would he do that?" Jojo asked oblivious to the joke.

"Just call your boy-toy to help us out…" Shan admonished when they reached the house in question. Just as the two arrived at the front door, the white painted door creaked open to reveal a tanned Brazilian man-god.

"Well, kh-ello ladies!" He greeted them in a saucy accent.

"Drop the act Rodrigo, and get your friend here, please!" Shan easily commanded. "Actually, since you're so helpful, just carry these _for _us." She dropped the bags into the tall boy's arms, and even added her tall brunette's loads to have him carry.

"Yes ma'am…" the Brazilian answered softly, dropping his accent, and stumbled into the kitchen.

"Hey Shan, hey Jo-bear!" a voice called from inside the house. "Come on in!" They agreed to the offer, and the girls headed straight for the living room. They sat on the nearest couch, which sat across from a second, smaller couch, keeping a coffee table in-between. Sitting on the smaller couch, a slightly shorter, slightly paler, glasses wearing boy checked off a list with a marker. Wearing a disheveled dress shirt, and an untied necktie, the boy also had several other sheets of paper in addition to the checklist lying strewn about the coffee table, and a can of Kooka Cola.

"Hey Petey!" Jojo cheered happily, and leaned on the boy.

_Please Jo…you could do _so _much better than him…_

"What you up to, Petey?" the long haired brunette asked coyly of the obviously busy boy next to her.

"Hmmm, the party's tonight, and I _still _have no idea what happened to the band that I asked for. Those guys must've gotten themselves in trouble again. Like Shan and Jojo, Piezo and Rodrigo went to a private school—except theirs was an all boy's one.

Private School 264 was originally built to be a rival of a then—all boy's version of Private School 265—but as progressiveness reached the education front in addition to the women's rights movement, 265 was turned into an all girls high school, whereas 264 was simply remodeled to hold more students.

"Don't worry about it, Jo-bear…I got it handled." The glasses wearing boy lightly pecked her friend's cheek with a kiss and went back to work. Shan's eye twitched at the mere sound of it, and she quickly grabbed Jojo's toned arm.

"Sorry Piezo, I forgot something…outside!" She calmly explained, and pulled Jojo with her out the front door.

"Oh, uh….just be back by nine! The band should be set up by then!"

_

* * *

Are you kidding me? _

Leaning his hand on the hilt of his blade, the dark clothed figure perched on a slanted house roof.

_Its _way _past the scheduled appearance…is intelligence _sure_ that a Hollow's supposed to appear here?_

Unsure of what else to do, the boy laid himself onto the tiled roof and sighed in boredom.

_Now what?_

Just as he closed his heavy eye lids, a piercing wail shocked him back to consciousness. And it sounded close, too.

* * *

"Wait-a-minute-Shan!" Jojo tried to fight back, but was overpowered by her smaller compatriot. Forced outside the house and all the way down the driveway, the tall brunette stared daggers into her childishly acting friend until they stopped just at the sidewalk. "What is the _matter _with you, Shan!?" 

"Jo, I can't stand this anymore…" Shan responded, "You can do _so _much better than that guy!"

"How could you say such a thing?" Jojo was appalled by her 'friend's' sudden behavior. "I knew you didn't like him, and sure you two didn't work out so well, but…" She had finally managed to shake off Shan's tight grip around her wrist, but stayed to finish her lecture.

"I never knew you could be such a bitch!!" She took off back towards the house, leaving a stunned Shan to stare ahead in a general direction.

The front door slammed shut, while the raven haired girl stayed in a sort of "social-shock" at the edge of the driveway next to the sidewalk. She lowered her head just a little, in case anyone was watching through a window. Although her long bangs were able to hide her eyes, they couldn't keep a single tear to run down her cheek. She sniffled once, and whipped the growing tears off her face before she began her trip back home.

Forgetting that turning right was a dead end, she quickly made a pedestrian U-turn hoping that no one saw her navigational mistake. Shan just shook her head and reminded herself that she was supposed to be mad.

"I want some ice cream…" She grumbled.

* * *

"Oh…that's just rich…" Standing in front of the so-called _automatic doors_, the dark garbed figure jumped from his spot on the black mat. A few people began to head towards the door, and timing it just right; he managed to squeeze through the doors that finally opened. 

"Now…where are you?" He readied his hand on his hilt. Walking down the fresh fruits lane, he took a right into the snacks aisle to continue his…search…

* * *

Shan couldn't believe what her own friend had called her. Sure, 'bitch' today was considered a compliment in comparison to the exotic choices available, but it was the principle of the matter…not simply the word usage itself. 

"He's a jerk who only _says _that he changed…lousy Petey…" It was lucky enough that the streets were empty, as anyone nearby would've considered calling the police. A person who argued out loud wasn't normally seen as stable.

Of course, still wrapped in her own bubble of anger, Shan absentmindedly walked into a cul-de-sac, whereas she lived a few blocks away…in the other direction.

"T_hat's _just great!" Even during the early summer months, the sun had already set, leaving Shan under the cover of darkness. Only sparse streetlights kept watch over the surrounding neighborhood now, while lots of headlights would soon change that in the coming hours. "Now I have to walk all the way back there, and make a right! Stupid Jo…this is all _her _fault…"

She began to backtrack towards the T-intersection in an angry grumble, but couldn't help but to slowly tire of the mood. As she came closer and closer to the corner light, her conscience began to have a bigger and bigger say in her mindset.

_She's your best friend! Heck, you live in **her **house…can't you support her decisions?_

"Bah…" was her only response to her inner voice's logic. "I warned her about him when he broke up with me…"

Piezo's white house came back into view when she reached the corner light, and Shan cursed herself for forgetting how she and Jojo had walked there in the first place. Trying to reach a compromise, the raven haired girl leaned against the light pole, but not towards the house. The supermarket in the distance was a better, less frustrating view. Unless you take free-samples day Fridays out of the equation, but that doesn't count at all.

Does it?

Uncharacteristic of the summer weather, Shan couldn't help but feel a chill blow, causing a slight shiver down to the entirety of her spine. Goosebumps popped up all over her skin, and she reactively rubbed her arms down to press them back down. Just as she thought anything couldn't be any weirder, the metal pole that she leaned on…it began to creak from pressure.

It couldn't have been from her leaning against it…that would just insulting. The more pressing matter was that the pole was slowly bending towards her. Too lazy to look over her shoulder, Shan looked up towards the light pole top itself and shrieked.

A demonic smile looked down on her, surrounded by a freakish white Oni mask. With dark soulless eyes, its teeth flashed an even grimmer and sadistic looking smile at its prey. Too scared to even do the most basic of things (like running for example), Shan shivered with fear, rather than a constant flow of cold air blowing against what bare skin there was to her casual clothes.

Emitting a loud unearthly howl, the beast dropped down, effectively breaking the light pole into an electrically sizzling heap. The sudden crackle of ripped wires drove her away from the crash, and her feet finally received the message that her brain had been trying to desperately send over the course of the whole ordeal. Running towards the first place that came to mind, Shan panted as she forced her trembling form towards the white house now just twenty feet away.

Her hopes would be dashed, and her world tumbled down when Shan felt a huge force push her from behind. She rolled across the lawn until a giant hand pressed down on her like she was a spinning quarter. Now pinned to the ground, Shan screamed and shrieked as loud as her lungs and throat would allow.

"HELP! HE-E-E-LP!!"

Unlike where the street light blinded her eyes to anything but the ghastly mask, Shan could now see the entirety of the form that was crushing the air out of her. A dark tealish color—most likely due to the lack of light, and body proportions that would've made her laugh hysterically…if it weren't for the sheer terror that was coursing through her at the moment. Its legs and feet were gigantic, muscled demonic forms while in vast comparison its arms were wiry, but ended in huge adult human sized claws. One of which pressed firmly down on the squirming Shan. Covering its face was the white mask. Its animation of pure hunger could be seen as a surrogate face as well. The only thing more striking though, was the large hole in its chest.

"Please…help me..." Shan tried to cry with what ever breath she had, but the huge beast let out a deep wheezy laugh at the sight of the frantic girl.

_Oh my god…I'm going to die…its going to eat me…_

Trembling at the thought, Shan struggled even more as the huge monster opened its evil grinning mouth. Its tongue slathered over its own face, and slowly, it began to bend down with teeth bare, as if devouring the fear that she exuded like an appetizer.

_No…I'm not going to let it end like this…_

"NO!" Resigning to her most basic instincts, Shan bared her own teeth. She bit into the skin of the monster's giant claw, and managed to elicit a howl from the creature. Droplets of dark, warm red dripped onto her forehead, and frightened, she jerked her head back. Streams of red poured out of the white faced beast, which disintegrated along with its body into nothingness.

As if her ribs were popping back into place, Shan clenched her eyes against the sharp pains in her ribcage. The sudden change of pressure caused her to cough violently, and she strained to sit up.

"Whoa there missy, just relax." A gentle hand pushed her back to lie on the ground, and brushed her hair back. Despite someone acting casually with her, it wasn't so bad compared to being eaten alive. Hoping to mentally slow down her fast beating heart, Shan raised her shaking hand and placed it on her chest, only to find a metal chain obstruct it.

"What?" her throat raspy from screaming, she could only softly groan out her words. "P…Ping?" she lightly coughed out. Her amber eyes tried to focus through the tears, and in the darkness she was sure that the bushy haired boy had gotten too serious with his samurai shows.

"Who, me?"


	2. Shinigami day

_Same disclaimer as the last chapter, only better!_**

* * *

**

**Tide**

"Shan-chan! Shan-chan!"

"Hmmm. Looks like your boyfriend is here." The black garbed teen sighed. The grass did not ruffle when the wooden sandaled feet moved towards her, and he knelt next to her with a slight grunt. "Now hold still, this is going to feel a little weird…considering this is an out of body experience and everything."

Confused through and through, Shan could not establish what was going on around her. Her mind raced with the obvious questions of **what**, **who**, **where** and **why**. But she was too stunned from the experience to speak. With another soft grunt, a pair of arms reached under her and picked her up off the ground. The sound of chains rattled in her ears, but they did no such thing to attract the boy's attention.

"Shan? Shan! You okay?" Ping cradled her lifeless body in his arms, desperate in his screams.

"Geez, I hope he stops that soon. You're going to have a _big _headache later." The still unnamed teen joked. He carried her 'current' body to her lifeless one, and slowly brought her down to ground level. A very strong tingling sensation jogged through her feet as they coincided with each other, and two pairs of pink puma-shoed feet slowly merged into one. The feeling ran up her body as she was laid into her unconscious form, right in the arm of the still screaming boy.

"Have fun at your party, Shan." The teen's voice echoed in her head. "_And try not to get attacked by any more Hollows, okay?" _

Her vision began to blur, and opening her eyes after blinking, a pair of lips smothered hers, shocking her even worse than the monster had. Reacting quickly, Shan whipped her right fist into her assaulter's face, knocking him off of her.

"What the hell!?" She sputtered as she shot up into a sitting position.

"Oh, Shan-chan! You're alright!" Ping laughed at hearing his idol's voice grace his ears. "It's lucky that I know CPR, huh? I thought you were a goner!" He rubbed his sore and reddened cheek as he smiled.

"There's nothing in CPR that involves _**tongue**, _you perverted moron!"

"What's going on?" Three people rushed out of the house from hearing the ruckus, one of them being Jojo. From years of friendship, the two girls hugged each other, one to comfort a teary eyed raven haired girl…and the other to hide her sheer look of embarrassment caused by the earlier molestation. "Ping, what did you do?" The brunette girl scowled at the obviously injured boy.

The two other boys looked between the girls and the other boy, confused beyond all reason as to what was going on.

"I uh…saved her?"

* * *

A soft and cozy bed was a welcome feel instead of the slightly wet blades of grass, even if it did belong to Piezo. But all of that didn't matter now, since she and her best friend had made up. Neither came out with an apology explicitly but it was more of an unspoken, mutually understood one…from both parties. 

From outside the plaster-white walls, music and muffled conversations could be heard; early signs for the party already under way. While the boys interrogated the shifty eyed Ping—at least that's how Jojo would describe him—the girls spent time relieving their earlier anxiety and frustration through girlish talking.

"So you just rest up a bit, and you can join us anytime, okay?" The brunette girl flashed a smile to her friend, and flattened the wrinkles of her shirt as she stood up. Why? To make herself look more presentable of course. "I have Petey and Rodrigo screening for you just in case Stalker McStalker Stalk tries to talk to you again. Deal?"

"Deal?" Shan had her eyes squint in intrigue, eliciting only laughter from the long haired brunette. Leaving Shan to recuperate, Jojo headed off to the door to help with the party.

"I'm sorry…" Shan heard her voice softly say before the door closed behind her. Looking down at herself, Shan felt even worse for all of the bad things that ran through her mind earlier that night.

…_Earlier…_ Her mind now wandered back to the monster that had attacked her, and how she was somehow detached from her own body, leaving Ping to deal with her unconscious 'other' form. "What was that thing…" Shan asked herself out loud.

"It's called a 'Hollow'."

"Waagh!" Shan fell out of the bed from shock. Clutching her bruised sides, the girl peeked from behind the bed mattress to peer at the darkly dressed teen squatting in the office chair on the other side of the room. "You!"

"I knew it. You _can _see me." The teen smirked and leaned back in the chair.

"Yeah, I can see ghosts. Got a problem with that?" Shan groaned as she returned to her feet. A pair of hands held onto her arm and helped her sit back on the bed, which belonged to the teen. "And clearly you can pass as Casper's 'Big Brother'." She mused at his attempt at chivalry. She aggressively slapped the teen's still wrapped arm away from hers and flattened knee length plaid skirt of wrinkles.

"Funny." He stared back un-amused. "Still, this makes it a problem now…"

"Hmm?" The black haired girl paid less attention while flipping through a sports magazine from the bedside table. "What's a problem?"

"That you're a Hollow magnet." Taking interest in the conversation again, Shan placed the magazine face down and took a serious look at the ghostly teen.

"And why's that? And what are they?"

"Well, the fact that you can see me means that you have a high amount of spirit energy, or _reiatsu_. It's impressive that you can differentiate between the living and the dead, but what's even more amazing is that you can see _me_. And I'm supposed to be cloaked beyond the eyes of the living—except from those from high enough reiatsu anyways. Further more, Hollows are-"

"-You finished yet?" Shan interrupted. She had returned to reading the sports magazine and was in the process of turning the page. She leaned her head to the side in conjunction with rotating the magazine vertically with jaded interest in her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." The black clothed teen exhaled. He turned around towards the window only to be smacked by a flying sports magazine from behind. "What the?"

"So if you're harder to see than regular ghosts…what _are _you?"

"Casually grabbing the hilt of his sword, Chin turned around to answer her question…"

"Heh?" Shan stared back wide eyed. "Who's Chin?"

"Oh, whoops. I narrated for myself again." He let out a nervous laugh. Shan could only stare in disbelief at the eccentric sword wielding teenager. In fact, she slowly tried to scooch away from him, but found that the edge of the mattress proved a difficult rival once again.

With a serious demeanor, the teen confidently posed while holding the black hilt of his sword and leaned on the office chair with his left hand. "_My _name's Chin…"

"…And I'm a Shiniga-Aaah!"

"Shan, you ok in here? Who're you talking to?" Jojo walked back into the room, muffling the loud rock music when she closed the door behind her.

"Ehh, no one." Shan responded. With slight effort, she managed to stand up on her own and approached the less than worried brunette girl. "C'mon Jo, lets get some nachos!"

Loud rock music rang out again and was muffled when the door closed. Near the office table, a brown chair lay flat on its back as if moved by an unseen force. The wheels on the bottom leg still spinning, the black clothed boy groaned from not only physical pain, but a huge bruising to his ego.

"…mi…"

* * *

The essence of chaos was everywhere. Strewn about on the floors, drenched in the carpet, even tangled within the drapes…one of _the _greatest parties had finally shut down for the night. They had prepared, they had tirelessly managed through the drunken frenzy, and now all that was left to do was to clean up the aftershock. 

_Screw it…_ was the four party hosts' train of thought…_it could wait till tomorrow._

Sitting lazily on the big comfy couch, Shan and her friend Jojo prided themselves on their baffling drinking prowess. Without breaking a sweat, the two drank all the precocious boys under the table, even managing beer chasers after their hard liquor shots. Of course, that's what the oversexed boys thought anyways.

"_It's simple really…all we have to do is keep these empty beer bottles in our hands, and pretend to gulp it down, while we're _really _spitting out that nasty liquor…come, give it a try!" _

Jojo burst in obnoxious laughter when the image of Shan's failed first attempt left her…well, drenched.

"What's so funny?" Shan took a swig of her water bottle. Even if they didn't _really _drink any of the liquor, the taste still lingered in her mouth.

"So how's your imaginary friend?" the brunette quickly changed the subject. "I hope he wasn't your _imaginary _boyfriend…" she teased as well.

"For the last time he wasn't imaginary…he's a spirit…"

"But I don't hear anything about _not_-boyfriend…" She cattily shot back.

"Bleh…" Shan playfully shoved her friend. "Even if I _was _that creepy, he's just not my type. Besides, how'd you know there _was _a ghost in there, anyways?"

"Oh come on," Jojo sat back up on the couch, "hearing you talk to yourself in the room, random things falling over—you included—obvious signs of the paranormal."

"Cheh…so even if I'm the one that can see them, you're still somehow an expert as well?"

"Well of course!" she chirped back. She rested her head on the cushion behind her, and closed her eyes. "I still don't get how you got that sixth sense thing…" Envy fluttered out of her mouth with these words, and Shan couldn't help but feel both superiority and guilt as well. A pained moaning was heard on the floor next to them, and a drunken hand latched onto Jojo's knee. More surprised then scared, the tall brunette stared confused as Shan kicked the owner away from her friend.

An even more pained moan let out and the drunken boy rolled away because of the kick. "Pantsu…They're white…" he drunkenly smirked.

"What the hell, Ping!" An agitated Shan stomped towards the two-time pervert and kicked him away once again.

"Wait a minute…" Jojo thoughtfully placed her finger on her lips. She was wearing blue tonight.

* * *

"Hey Petey! Nice party last night!" 

"That was awesome!"

Fixing his glasses, Piezo couldn't help but to smile gleefully. In one night, he had changed from a blip on the radar, to a bright shining star in the social hierarchy. With his Brazilian friend walking beside him, the two boys walked with such confidence down the sidewalk that it was no more than parading around during a festival. And none of that could've been achieved without Jojo's connections.

Speaking of which…

"Hi Petey!" the tall brunette sang out.

"Hey Jo-bear, loving the uniform!" He adjusted his glasses.

"Oh you flirt…" she giggled back. Shan on the other hand couldn't bear but to gag just a bit. She received a slight sharp nudge from her friend, but nothing else. "So how's your popularity, Mr. Popularity?"

"_Real _original, Jo…" And she rolled her eyes. She got more of a shove than a nudge that time, but the boys didn't notice a thing.

"I'm loving it, Jo-bear! And it's all thanks to you!" Still reeling from the ninja-style attack, Shan avoided her gaze from the annoying couple and watched the building tops as the four walked to school. A darkly dressed figure caught her eye, and she sighed loudly from grief.

"Hey, you ok Shan?"

"Hmmm?" Rodrigo was the first to realize the raven haired girl's change in attitude. Before he could get a closer look, a pair of hands grasped onto his shoulders and pushed him forward from view.

"Oh, don't worry about that! She does that every morning, don't you, Shan?"

"I don't know, babe…" Piezo started

"You too, _babe_…" Jojo strongly gripped onto Piezo's ear as well and dragged both of the boys down the sidewalk. "See you at school, Shan!"

"Yeah Yeah…" she mumbled and crossed the street. Walking into a dark alleyway, the dark haired girl found the robed teen waiting for her. "So you're a stalker spirit then?"

"Haha…" He wrapped his arms over his chest. "You're not really there on the looks department…" The girl's face stayed stoic, leaving the dark clothed teen to sigh out. "No, I'm not…"

"Whatever. Listen Chin, I have to go to school now. It would be really annoying to miss out on the first day of finals after a whole boring year of school, don't you think?" She turned to head back to the sidewalk, but heard the clanking of wood right next to her.

"That's cute." The strange teen smirked.

"What is?" Shan could admit that she was surprised at his sudden appearance, but didn't want him to know it.

"You remembered my name." He bent slightly to bring his face down to her level. As they continued to walk, he felt a palm grasp his face and suddenly push him away. The large clanking of garbage cans soon followed, and to everyone around her, it seemed that the small girl had some sort of telekinetic powers. "Geez, what was that for?"

"Meh…" Shan kept cool on the outside, but she was laughing hilariously on the inside. Again, the sound of clanking wood appeared next to her, only this time it was with more force. "So, you were going to explain to me why you're following me around?"

The teen spirit resigned to his fate and simply walked along the strange girl. "Well, like I told you before…you being able to see me is a miracle unto itself." Pausing to see if she was still paying attention continued his explanation. "That means that you have a high amount of reiatsu. If you remember, that monster that attacked you—the Hollow—they're attracted to high reiatsus." Shan stopped in her tracks when she processed the information.

"So what you're saying is…THANKS TO YOU, MONSTERS ARE ATTACKING ME!?" Shan grabbed hold of the teen's black garment and pushed him into a wall.

"What? Baka…" Chin was surprised at first, but grabbed onto Shan's wrists and gently had her let go of him. "I'm here to slay those Hollows. I'm just guessing that you'd be around, is all…that's my job as a Shinigami, after all."

"Oh…" Shan quickly calmed and looked down in embarrassment.

"Hmm? Oh!" the self proclaimed Shinigami yelped in surprise. He let go of the girl's small wrists, and back up into a garbage can. "I'll uh…see you around." Facing his back towards the small girl, the teen jumped twenty feet into the air, and landed effortlessly on the rooftop.

The sound of the clock tower sang through the city, eventually reaching nine loud chimes. "Wait, nine!?" Realizing her tardiness, Shan out of the alleyway and ran onto the busy sidewalk.

"AIII!!!!!"

* * *

"Aw man that was close…" Chin sighed to himself. He laid on his back on the rooftop, and stared into the blue cloud littered sky. The clock tower sang through the city, and after nine chimes, an anguished wail sounded from down below. "Heh…she's late for school again…" 

His cell phone rang out, and Chin fumbled around to retrieve the ringing device. "Moshi, Moshi…"

"Shinigami Chin…how is your reconnaissance mission in America?"

"Oi, Taicho!" The teen sat up at the sound of the voice on the other line. "About that, it's gotten a bit complicated…"


	3. Arrivals and Departures

_...And I'd like to mention that thanks to Disclaimer Bot 57-0A63, I can't be sued for copyright infringement or anything similar to that. Why would people care that I'm using their characters for a fanfiction? I should've just bought a PS3 instead...they're cheaper..._**

* * *

**

**Tide**

_Why did I have to open my big mouth?_

Chin sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair, reading a newspaper called "The Garlic" that he found most amusing. It spoke of many current events such as news, but was mainly satirical in nature—poking fun at American diplomatic issues and policies written by Americans themselves. Normally he wouldn't be able to read a newspaper, or even feel the dull plastic of the chair that he sat in. Not without the use of a gigai, of course.

Instead of wearing the dark robed kimono of a Shinigami, the teen (or at least he looked like a teenager) wore a red hoodie sweater atop a regular plain undershirt, and black jeans and shoes as well. Hundreds of people passed him by over the past hour, and only saw a person of Japanese descent sitting and reading in an Arrivals terminal, rather than a Soul Reaper inside a mechanical contraption.

"_You've found her? But how!?" _

"_Let me speak with Taicho already!"_

"_But how can we be sure that you've done your job correctly, hmmm!?"_

"_I assure you Kiyone-san…I've properly done my reconnaissance, and I felt it was important not to call until I was one hundred percent sure about my suspicions." _

"_But…high school? That's impossible, she's only-"_

"_-Hai, Sentaro-chan…I know."_

"_Fine then. I'll send them over to America to verify your claims. You best be correct Chin. You wouldn't want to see **them **angry…"_

Chin raised the gigai's arm to look at his watch, revealing that it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. The flight was supposed to have arrived an hour earlier, but the airline had suffered so very aggressive passengers on their way. Or so was the news report.

"**Flight 2325 from Japan, now arriving at gate three."**

A woman's voice announced from the intercom. The message was repeated again in Japanese, but from his fluency of the English language, Chin didn't need the translation.

"Ai…I hope all this trouble is worth it. I'd be afraid what they'd do to me if I'm wrong about this…"

* * *

"Pencils down. Good. That's it for today; see you all tomorrow for your second day of final exams!" 

"Oh man that was long!" Jojo stretched out her long arms into the air. "Do we _really _have to do this three more times?"

"Hmmm…yeah, I guess."

"What's wrong, 'shorty'?" Jojo wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulder. "You're distracted again…more than usual, anyways."

"I don't want to talk about."

"Too sad?"

"Too clichéd…" The pair was now walking down the street towards the station, not saying a word to another. While Shan looked down in thought, the taller brunette did similarly, except up.

"Come on." She grabbed onto her friend's wrist and suddenly dragged her across the street. A car halted in its place and honked madly at them.

"What!?"

"Just come on!"

* * *

"Oh Shan-chan…" A school uniformed Ping groaned out. Still stuck inside for their school, the boys of 265 suffered one more day of regular school before _their_ two day final exam schedule. Drooling, the private school student snored loudly, interrupting the teacher's attempt at teaching trigonometry. 

"Mr. Ju..."

"Shan-chan?" The loud thwack of wood on soft skin shocked the daydreamer awake. Writhing in pain, the boy jumped nearly three feet in the air and tubled around on the school desks. "Ahahahaha…pain!"

* * *

"Where are…you…taking me!?" Shan panted. Jojo had been dragging her down the street for the past fifteen minutes and never stopped to explain her current craziness. Making a sharp turn around a building, the two were now outside the main parts of the city and in a residential district. Although it wasn't the suburbs, the residential district was much smaller and less crowded than the downtown. It was at this point that Jojo finally let go of Shan's wrist, and allow her to walk on her own. Of course, she wouldn't leave her friend all alone like that. "Why are we here, Jo?" 

"I thought that was what's been bothering you. You haven't been here in a while…"

The place in question was a cemetery. Indeed, Shan hadn't been to one in a while, no less to _this _one. A solemn quiet settled on them as they walked on the path, making sure to not step onto the grassy area. They walked slowly on the same path, and Shan stopped at the first unmarked gravestone that she saw. Jojo walked just a few more feet until she realized that her friend had stopped, and walked over to her.

"Is this it?"

"Yeah…" Brushing her raven hair away from her eyes, Shan knelt closer to the gravestone and brushed off the growing moss from the bottom. "It's been a while, huh gramps?" There was no answer to Shan's question, but Jojo couldn't help but to let out a single tear.

Shan's grandfather was the only family that she knew, and after his passing, Jojo offered her friend to live with her. Although she never met him personally, the stories that Shan told were so heartwarming and sad.

"Oh…that _does _seem a bit cliché…"

"You know…" Shan sniffed to herself. "Somewhere in my messed up head of mine, I remember someone told me something about crying…" Jojo knelt next to her friend a offered her a handkerchief.

"And what was that?" Taking the outstretched handkerchief, Shan dabbed the cloth on her eyes to wipe away her tears.

"Well, I remember I had to have been young. I was sitting in someone's lap, a beautiful woman. She had raven hair like mine; dark mysterious eyes…but they were reddish and tired looking. I remember telling her, that it was ok to cry. And so, she cried…"

Jojo didn't know what to say about this newest revelation, but she was happy that Shan managed to scrounge up a bit more of her past. More than that, she was happy that she was still her closest confidant.

"I think…I think that woman was my mom…"

Behind the two solemn girls, a black portal slowly began to emerge. Opening up to a diameter of five feet, a grotesque looking red claw-like hand reached through. Its talons bare.

"_Shan" _an eerie voice whispered in her ear, and she reactively turned to face it. With no hesitation, she pushed Jojo out of the way and grabbed by the menacing claw.

"SHAN!?" Jojo screamed out and was shocked to find her friend writhing on the ground. "Oh my god, Shan!" She desperately jumped to aid the gagging girl, thinking it was a seizure. An invisible barrier kept her from reaching the small girl, and a crude force smashed her meters away into a gravestone. Crumbling it and forcing her to give into unconsciousness.

"JO!" Shan strained hoarsely. _Not again…not again! _Out of the portal, a red beast emerged to attack her. To devour her, like that Shinigami had warned her it would. Fully stepping out of its dark portal, the Hollow emerged into the full sight of the girl to do nothing but watch. Its menacingly developed foot stomped onto the ground, and the sound of breaking chains rang in Shan's ear. Pain swamped through her body as the monster pinned her down, and stared directly at her. Its skull was similar to that of a giant menacing ox, while it smiled deviously as its predecessor had the other night.

"W-why?"

_**Well, why not?**_

A voice echoed in her mind. It resonated deeply, and the sound of wisdom oozed from the intonation.

_**In this world, the strong devour the weak. That is how it's always been.**_

Shan craned her neck to her left where she heard the voice, and saw a man in black. His gray hairs and wrinkled face was physical proof of his age, and the wrinkles and development of his posture displayed the intensity of his life. The man was dressed exactly like Chin had—the black kimono, wooden sandals, even the sheathed katana at his side. The only stark difference was a white cloth wrapped around his waist overlapping the bottom of the dark robes. He stood on top of the mound of the unmarked grave, oblivious as to who laid within.

**_If you were weak, this monster would devour you. And life will go on._**

The man's face suddenly changed to a strong passionate one, rather than the earlier look of apathy.

**_But you are not weak. Your parents' blood runs through your veins. Veins that pumps the lifeblood of the Shinigami within you!_**

_**Awaken it!**_

Upon opening her eyes, Shan felt less fear, and less panic than she had before. She stared back up towards the monster with confidence and managed to pull out an arm from the beast's tight grip. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she formed a karate chop with her free hand and struck at the wrist.

* * *

It had been nearly another full hour since the arrival of the Japanese plane, and still no sight of them. Chin sighed as he moped, the knees of his gigai felt sore from the pressure of his elbows. The trunk of the large palm tree jutted out whenever he want to lean his head back, so he was forced to either slump backward in his seat, or lean forward while in his seat. 

The old lady who had sat to his left was long gone; her family came and she laughed happily at her grandson's attempts at magic. The business man to his right had almost stayed as long as he had, but it ended up that he was at the wrong gate for the past two hours. Although the crowds never really stopped moving by, it seemed that it would be a slow time for a while.

As he shoved his hand to fish for his cell phone once again, a loud yelling sound from the other side of the airport gate caught his attention. He quickly checked for any missed calls or unread messages before returning the device to his pocket and watching the movement in front of him..

At last from the gate, several silhouettes dotted against the blurry glass and approached the doors. Standing up expectantly, the shinigami-in-disguise was saddened to see only airport security guards walk out.

He began to sit down until a speck of orange poked out from behind the first two security guards. The guards, numbering up to four, stopped in the middle of the terminal and all faced inward to form a small circle. The sounds of clicks followed, and soon the four left to return behind the blurry glass doors. Those two previously handcuffed were left to rub their respective wrists because of the restraints with annoyance.

Chin sighed out happily for the first time in two and a half hours, and managed a slow jog towards the two. "Konnichiwa! Welcome to America!" He greeted in fluent Japanese. He bowed down towards the two and gently took the large handbag from the smaller woman and began to usher them towards the baggage carousel located just south of where they were. "I hope that you didn't cause _too_ much trouble!" Chin nervously joked.

Upon reaching the carousel, he and the orange haired man instantly began to scour the luggage that revolved around, carried along by the metal overlapping plates. In mid pull of the first large suitcase, Chin's cell phone began to vibrate. Quickly letting go, he fished his pockets for his cell phone and instantly began to read the sent text message. A loud thump sounded behind him, and Chin embarrassingly picked up the luggage that landed on the man.

"Oi…sumimasen!" He said as he helped up the taller man. "I regret to inform you, that we'll have to talk a bit later…" Chin began to say to the smaller woman, just as the orange haired man found the second luggage bag.

"What do you mean?" The raven haired woman asked nervously. She brushed away a lock of her hair that covered her dark eyes.

"Don't worry Kuchiki-sama; it's just that duty calls!" He tried to explain by displaying his recently received text message. "You can wait for me at the hotel, and then I can take you to her later."

"If it's a Hollow, just let me take care of it." The tall orange hair man offered. From his pocket, he displayed a small bronze colored tablet in his hand.

"Ie, Kurosaki-san. Although you're a representative, we can't have your reitsu attracting more Hollows here. I apologize for the inconvenience." Chin's speech began to speed up as more time passed by. He did however, bow again before rushing off to the coordinates displayed.

* * *

Blood splattered all over her face, of which Shan was sure she had caused. Upon inspection of the attack, her hand had managed to penetrate a few inches of the monstrous wrist, causing the Hollow to release her from the pain she caused. She jumped onto her feet, despite the pain felt in her sides and rushed to check over the rubble where her unconscious friend was. 

Screeching in pain, the reddish Hollow stared hatefully at the girl who had attacked it. It prepared to launch itself towards her, only to be cut down by an unseen sword cut. An even louder scream pierced the airwaves, and Shan had to cover her ears to protect her eardrums. She looked over towards the unmarked grave to in response. The old man was missing, and the Hollow lay dying—slowly disintegrating as its predecessor had before.

She turned back towards the unconscious brunette but was surprised to see a black robed teen already treating her injuries. Shan could only smile despite the feeling of constantly being watched over by the teen.

Elsewhere in the vast cemetery, two darkly dressed figures watched from atop a mausoleum. Their white and black hakamas, respectfully, ruffled softly in a short gentle breeze that passed by. The taller of the two, held his arms in front of his chest while covered by his overlarge sleeves. His white hair and wrinkles displayed his position in life.

The shorter of the two—as well as the younger one—cringed at the happy sight of the three in the distance. His brown hair was broomish in nature, and fluttered in the breeze just as well as the black kimono cloth. "You've got to hand it to him—a _great _sense of timing…Almost like it was scripted or something, eh, Oji-san?"

The older man didn't answer, but merely looked on towards the two girls and their shinigami savior. "Oi Oji-san…we should do something about that guy…he's starting to be a real nuisance, you know?" Without looking towards his smaller compatriot, the old man saw him slowly take hold of his sword hilt. His amber eyes looked on towards him with an apathetic nature, and the younger figure slowly returned his hands to his sides.

Looking back towards the distance, the old man cracked open his mouth just barely. "Hai…" he said in a deep tone.

* * *

It had been two strenuously long days for Shan. Facing down yet another Hollow attack, and then facing down hre second long day of school finals. It was a ridiculous choice, but she didn't know which one was worse. 

"That's stupid…" The raven haired girl grumbled in her sleep"I just need…some sleep…"

_---_

"_He's okay."_

_The small voice caused her to jolt, and her arms tightened around her stuffed animal as she turned. It was the girl, the one she'd run to before she'd gotten lost; was she a ghost? She had to be, no one else seemed to see her… "Huh?"_

"_The man." With a small jerk of her head, the ghost girl indicated the tall orange-haired man standing with his hands in his pockets. "I can tell. He's okay."_

"_He's a stranger. Mommy told me not to talk to strangers."_

"_He won't hurt you. He could help you get back to your mom."_

_Her head snapped up at this, a glimmer of hope in her eyes; but still, she was torn. "Mommy said…"_

"_Do you want to find her? He can help. He's okay."_

_---_

"Hmmm?" Shan jerked out of her sleep, confused if she was still dreaming. "Ouch…guess not…" she grumbled to herself. Releasing her index finger and thumb, Shan ceased her pinching motion and groggily looked around 'her' room. It was actually Jojo's room, since her family has been taking care of her ever since her grandfather's death nearly two years ago.

She clutched her stuffed doll, one that her grandfather had given her for her birthday just before he died. "Oh Ichi…" She mumbled to it as she squeezed harder.

A chill ran up her spine, and Shan jerked to sit up in the bed, staring off into the darkness of the room. "_Jo? That you?" _She nervously whispered.

_**It's time…little one…**_

Shan, frozen in fear, went limp at the sound of the voice. Dropping her head back onto the pillow, her eyes glazed over, and all but the yellow of her eyes disappeared. The old man stepped out of the shadows and approached the now silent Shan. Despite her being there, Jojo was none the wiser of the intruder's presence.

…_**It is time…my granddaughter…** _

**

* * *

**

**Some words from the Typewriter**

-I'd like to mention now that there's going to be a lot of refernce to Radiant Beam's "What goes down must come up" story. You don't have to read it to understand this story, but its a good story to read if you want **good **Bleach fanfiction

-I have the full consent of RadiantBeam to continue the plot further for chapters four and five


	4. A father's duty

_...And I'd like to mention that thanks to Disclaimer Bot 57-0A63, I can't be sued for copyright infringement or anything similar to that. Why would people care that I'm using their characters for a fanfiction? I should've just bought a PS3 instead...they're cheaper..._**

* * *

**

**Tide **

_Was it a dream?_

_Did it happen at all?_

_Why was she so itchy?_

"Oi Ichigo…" the small woman groaned out. She turned over in her sleep, grabbing as much of the bed sheets as possible. Again, the itchy…thing brushed against her side, and she quickly tried to turn over again. "Oi…" she tiredly muffled through her pillow.

"Nani?"

"Get your head out of my shirt…I'm not in the mood…"

"Hmmm? What are you talking about moron? I'm right here." The taller man mumbled out. He grumbled as he took the effort to guide the smaller woman's arm to pat on his spiky haired head, then returned to wrapping his arm around her waist.

Rukia continued to rub the spiky haired head behind her, slowly going back to sleep. A chill went up her spine when realization struck her, and reactively jerked back to head butt the man's throat. Kneeling on the bed, the she fumbled through her shirt while ignoring Ichigo's gasps for breath. To her dismay, her questing hand bumped into something within her shirt, and she quickly acted to rip it off her, even if it broke off some buttons in the process.

"Aaaah!" she screamed in the dark, and threw off whatever was molesting her, and a subsequent squeak resulted from the thump on the floor.

"What is it Rukia!?" Ichigo panted through his sore neck, and instinctively jumped to her side. Rukia hid her shocked and naked form in the taller man's arms and slowly crawled under the sheets as Ichigo cautiously approached the other wall. "Oi!" He screamed angrily.

"Let me go you bastard, you afraid of me, huh!?"

* * *

"Xiu-san, are you home?" within his gigai, Chin wandered through the empty house. Surprised that there was no one home, he slowly placed his hand into his pocket, ready to use his Shinigami badge. "Xiu…san?" Chin had come to check up on the young girl as a follow up to her most recent attack, but found that the front door was open. 

He had let himself in, despite the mortal law of breaking an entering, but he didn't really break in, did he? Still, it was suspicious of no one to be home, especially since it was the last day of finals. Shan or Jojo had to have been home, whether or not the parents had work. The stairs creaked as he stepped, something he wasn't too keen on, especially since he was used to the silence and uncanny infiltration abilities he had as a spirit.

He finally approached a door atop the staircase, and saw that it was creaked open. Pushing it aside, the door hinge lightly creaked, but loosened when he pushed with slightly more force. A single envelope lay on the farthest bed, and on it, written in red was the name…

"**_Chin"_**

* * *

"Get…in…the…box!" Rukia growled. For the past ten minutes, she had been struggling to shove the yellow lion plush toy. Despite the gross difference in size, Kon had managed to keep from being incarcerated in the cardboard prison. 

"But Nee-chan, I missed you!"

"Baka!"

"It was so fun and happy back at your home...but then you and the strawberry idiot disappear, and for two whole months not a word from you…not even a visit from your 'valley of happiness!"

"Will you two shut up for one second? I've gotten a call from Sereitei!" Ichigo returned his attention to the small cellular device, despite the continued ruckus in the background. Upon opening the text message, his eyes seethed in anger.

"By the way, where's Aiko-nee-chan? Is she here with you guys?"

Slamming his phone into his pocket, Ichigo quickly stormed out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind him

"Nani?" Kon's muffled voice came through Rukia's hand. Although it was an abrupt comment, the little lion didn't think that it was a rude one, was it? Rukia on the other hand, worried what Ichigo was up to. Especially since he had his Shinigami badge ready when he ran out of the room. Looking at each other, the two fought each other to be the first to dash out of the room, but eventually gave up and both ran out with Kon riding atop Rukia's head.

* * *

"Good…you've finally come…" 

"Give her…back…" Chin panted. "Best you do so, or you'll have to deal with Kurosaki-san instead!"

"Such a trivial demand," The grey haired man scoffed, "It is my granddaughter who chooses this. And as her guardian, I shall make sure people respect her wishes." He placed his wrinkled hand behind his back, and led a small black dressed figure to stand beside him.

"You didn't!?" the Shinigami was astonished by their actions. "What did you do to her body!?"

"If you are referring to her mortal shell, it is safe." Chin breathed a small sigh of relief. Even being an enemy, that was one thing that the old man had to be telling the truth. He then slowly moved his gaze over to the smaller, similarly dressed girl. Wearing the black kimono and hakama of a Shinigami, Shan stared into the distance emotionless. Her amber eyes were blank of any thought and any personality that she was characteristic of, and stood unflinchingly next to the older man.

"Why are you doing this….why would you kidnap and do this, to an innocent girl?"

"Do not trifle with me boy…this girl is far from being innocent. She has the life blood of two Shinigamis flowing through her veins. One from the noble house of Kuchiki…the other from the same man who destroyed my master!"

_Geez…I wonder if he knows that Rukia-sama was adopted… _Chin slowly brought his hand towards his sheathed sword, his Zanpakuto. His hand faltered at a great pressure looming over him. It wasn't a hollow, and it couldn't be the older man. That only left…

"Aiko!" a hoarse voice shouted out. The pressure upon Chin grew heavier until finally he began to sweat from just being in its presence. Ruffling through the grass, a black clothed figure stepped out next to him. "Give her back." The taller orange haired man drew his sword, a huge butcher knife-like blade. It lacked a guard, a hilt, and a white streamed cloth flowed from its handle.

"Kurosagi, Ichigo…" the old man spoke out. I've dreamed of this moment. He moved his hand to hold the hilt of his Zanpakuto, but didn't unsheathe the blade. "You will pay dearly for destroying my master…Sosuke Aizen-sama!"

"Aizen?" If he didn't blink, Chin could've sworn that the strawberry-headed man was right next to him. But in a flash, he had crossed the distance of fifty feet, and was already grappling swords with the old man. They had left the still hypnotized Shan stand at the very spot that she had earlier.

"Ho, Kurosaki Ichigo…your speed has not been hearsay after all!" the old man mocked. Unlike Ichigo, his sword was not drawn at all. Rather, the old man had used his sheath to block his attack. "Now…die…" the old man drew his sword and slashed down towards his opponent.

_

* * *

Now that he's busy with Ichigo-san, I can rescue Shan…no, Aiko. He quickly rushed off to the girl's side and grabbed onto her wrist. "Come on Aiko-san…it's time to go!" The girl refused to move, and Chin found it difficult to pull her by force. __Man, what have they been feeding you!?_ He quickly rushed off to the girl's side and grabbed onto her wrist. "Come on Aiko-san…it's time to go!" The girl refused to move, and Chin found it difficult to pull her by force. 

"_Now…die!"_

Chin looked past the face of the dazed girl and witnessed the old man strike down with his sword, while he kept Ichigo's impaled in his sheath. _Oh no, Kurosaki-san! _He applied shunpo to close the distance, but hesitated from a whoosh heading towards him. Spinning mid-air, Chin defended against the wayward slash meant for his back.

"Don't forget about me!" his attacker laughed maniacally.

"You!!" Chin screamed back and the heels of his feet dragged against the ground until the attack's momentum.

Resting his blade atop his shoulder, Ping stared at the Shinigami mockingly. His black kimono hung loose and flowed from his movement. He stood next to the unmovable girl, who still stared off in the same direction. "Yeah, it's me…you want to fight about it?"

"Shut up!" Chin yelled at him. The clash of swords behind him gave him enough information about his friend's fight. Knowing that their fight was still going, Chin felt that he could focus his energies on his own opponent. "Now tell me…" he pointed the tip of his blade towards his opponent, "why are you doing this?"

It was more or less easy to avoid the old man's strike, but Ichigo was now fully aware that he wasn't just some push over. "So does that make you an Arrancar? Or maybe a Vizard?"

"Hmmm?" the old man lowered his blade slightly, as did Ichigo.

"The fact that you saw Aizen as some kind of saint…that sure as hell doesn't make you a friend of Sereitei, now does it?"

"No…and no…" The old man stated. "My colleague and I are just admirers of Aizen-sama's work. Only he had the judgment to bestow greater powers. But personally, I find Hollows wretched creatures."

_Colleague? _Ichigo listened intently to the clash of metal behind him, meaning that someone was fighting with the other Shinigami. "So…how does that justify kidnapping my daughter?"

"We knew that you would not come into our plans willingly, so my colleague and I had to resort to other methods of persuasion." Angry at the fact that his daughter was used for bait, Ichigo again charged the old man, and clashed swords with him.

"Your swordsmanship is great, but the _Ataenushi no Oujo_ seeks the strength of your reiatsu!"

* * *

"The _who _now?" 

"_Ataenushi!" _Ping stressed the first word. "If it's too hard to understand, think of us as an 'Aizen-sama fanclub'. We're going to continue what he started, all with the use of Ichigo's strong reiatsu!" Chin beat back a brazen assault from the manic swordsman, and began an attack of his own.

"So what, you're using a young girl as bait!?"

"Yeah, basically." Ping dodged a vertical slash, and jumped next to the raven haired girl. He spun her around so she faced his opponent and gently pinched her chin. "But if it weren't for us, you'd had to have waited for five _whole _years until this 'girl' blossomed into such a hottie!"

"Get your hands off Aiko-san!" Chin pointed his sword tip at the arrogant boy. Ping rubbed his cheek against hers in defiance of the Shinigami's order, and shot off a Cheshire smile.

"What if I don't wanna?" he whined. "Or maybe…she likes it? Eh, _Shan-chan_?" The girl's blank stare gave way at the rogue's pet name for her. She opened her eyes as she did before, but now, she focused those amber eyes upon the Shinigami. Emotionless to the core, the girl known as Aiko in a previous life drew her sword, and pointed it back at Chin. "Just to let you know, she's _really _like her dad! So much, that her power…scares even me." The rogue shuddered at the thought and stood side by side with swords drawn towards a common enemy. Smiling even bigger now, Ping snapped his fingers, and the girl appeared inches in front of Chin's face; sword tip thrust towards him.

* * *

"You talk too much." Ichigo growled at the old man, struggling to overpower him as they pushed swords. 

"You ask too much." The old man retorted, and thrust back against his opponent, breaking away to create space between them. "Why do you not just destroy me? End your suffering, and reclaim your daughter?"

"I would under normal circumstances. But you still have my daughter under a spell. I have to break it first."

"I see." The old man gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands. "In that case, I have no choice but to force you to!" He raised his sword to be parallel to the ground, and swiping his right hand across the blade, causing it to glow. "Now, it is time to carve up our enemies…_Raidentetsuya_!"

The glowing blade lengthened and bent to a sharp edge on one side, while hardening into a staff on the other. With its transformation, the old man cut through the air once and displayed his intimidating scythe.

_Hold on Aiko…Dad's going to save you…_

* * *

"Aiko, wake up!" Chin had barely enough time to dodge the fatal thrust, escaping with a deep cut to his shoulder. The Shinigami found himself under increasing duress. One major concern was having to fight the very girl he was supposed to be saving. The other was fighting a second opponent in tandem. It was only a matter of time until he suffered a fatal strike. "Aiko, you can fight it!" He tried to urge her out of her hypnotized state. 

"There's no point, bro! Shan-chan's stuck in that spell!" Ping laughed as he swung carelessly. When the Shinigami managed to counterattack, Aiko would appear and deflect the strike, forcing Chin to break off from fear of harming her as well as dodge a deadly accurate attack of her own.

"What's the matter Shinigami, you scared?" Ping taunted throughout the fight. "I'd let her do all the work, but that would let her have all the fun too!" Managing a shunpo, Ping appeared behind his prey and stabbed at him with sadistic thoughts in his mind. Chin, focusing on Aiko diving down on him, moved out of her blade's way, and unwittingly escaped from the rear attack. Ping however, suffered the efficiency of her strike against his arm.

"Argh, you stupid bitch! Watch where you're going!" Ping angrily screamed and backhanded the girl.

* * *

"Aah!" the sound of her screaming was all that it took. He had brushed away the comments that the old man had dared say. That he was her _grandfather. _He kept cool when he learned what they had planned all along—why they had kidnapped his and Rukia's daughter, and caused months of grief and stress for the both of them. 

_**But NO ONE lays a hand on MY DAUGHTER!**_

The very air around him began to warp, and even swirled from the increasing density creating a heavy pressure close to him. The old man jumped out of the radius of this pressure, and watched on with intrigue. He smiled at the success of the plan. However, his smile quickly faded when the pressure had reached where he now stood. And he began to sweat.

"Ban…"

The very ground below him began to crumble and rise, and Ichigo knew that he had given into temptation; did what they wanted all along. But it didn't matter. He was tired of letting them live. Anger flowed throughout his body, and shot into the air that created the pressure that pressed down all around him. He raised his head and stared at his opponent. It didn't matter if he was the ringleader, an obedient servant, or whatever.

His irises a pure and blazing white, they bore into the old man's very soul. He pointed his sword directly at him. Like a gunslinger would, to shoot a bullet right between the eyes.

"…kai…"

It was over as soon as Ichigo decided to end it. The old man's attempt to block the attack was in vain, and Zangetsu had cut right through the scythe staff. The old man, coughing, bleeding profusely and crumpled on the ground, was the least concern on Ichigo's mind right now. Ignoring his mumbles, he shot off towards the bastard who hit Aiko.

The old man struggled to raise his head. He looked up into the sky, and portals began to open up all over. "It's...begun…" He chuckled softly. He closed his eyes regretting nothing at all. It wouldn't be long until death would catch up to him.

* * *

"You bastard!" Chin charged to strike down the teen. To his dismay, the raven haired girl, despite being hit before, jumped to his defense. "Damn you!" 

"Don't swear when a lady's present!" Ping laughed as he attacked. He stumbled just slightly in his step as a monstrous reiatsu jabbed at him, but managed to correct his steps mid-run. _Now you've done it Hisashi-san!_

Regretting his actions, Chin kicked away a surprised Aiko and turned to deflect Ping's charge. Behind him, Aiko was so focused to attack, that she didn't notice the portal open behind her.

Feeling the pain starting to overwhelm him, Chin involuntarily began to be overpowered by the rogue Shinigami. _No…_He was losing, and his opponent didn't even seem focused on the battle at hand. In fact, Chin was easily toppled over to the ground, but his fall wasn't even taken advantage of. "What?"

The soft splattering of blood dripped from the massive claw wound that penetrated his back. Loose drops of blood spilled from his lips, but he managed to wipe it away with his sleeve. In front of him, the female Shinigami stared blankly ahead, awaiting orders as she was subconsciously programmed to by the spell.

"Heh…baka…" Ping groaned out. He rubbed his hand against the red cheek that he had struck earlier, and regretted it considerably. "You have enough power to destroy a Menos Grande single handedly…but you're too stupid to protect yourself from a weakling like this one…" Turning his hilt over, Ping aimed the blade behind him, and jabbed the Hollow blindly. Struggling to raise his arm, he cut through the thick flesh and ignored the animal-like squealing and subsequent thump. "I guess…that's the trade off, huh?"

He weakly moved his thumb to wipe away the tears spilling from her otherwise emotionless eyes, and grinned tiredly. "Sayonara…Sha-I mean…Aiko-chan…" He began to fall backwards towards the awaiting grassy ground, regretting no longer. Letting out one last haggard breath, he weakly snapped his fingers and his arm dropped onto the ground.

* * *

For the raven haired girl, she had been present throughout the whole ordeal; the kidnapping, going through the intense pain of separation from her body, the orange haired man appearing along with Chin, learning that Ping…was like them too. Her amazing agility and strength was surpassed only by her fear of having her mind being trapped within her body, unable to do anything and forced to watch everything unfold. She cried when Ping came between her and the Hollow; cried for the same person who had been involved in bringing her into this mess in the first place. 

"Aiko!"

"Aiko!"

_Aiko? That's what Ping called me…is that… _Her amber eyes began to fade, slowly being replaced by a darker hue.

"Aiko!"

_That's…that's me…_ looking around her surroundings, the young raven haired girl was standing in a cemetary. She was holding a sword in her hand, and crumpled before her was the form of a boy, bleeding onto the grass. His face was familiar, but she couldn't recall.

"Aiko!" The voice called out one more time, and someone suddenly held her in a tight embrace. "Aiko, are you alright?" The man's hair was orange, and dressed in black. A terrible look of worry had washed over his face.

"D…dad? Where's Kai...and Hisana?" Ichigo hugged her even tighter now. Not caring if tears streamed down from his haggard eyes.

"Aiko!" A woman's voice called out while running. Rukia, followed by a Kon-possesed Ichigo rushed to where everyone had gathered.

_I wished for Hollow activity, and now I got Hollow activity…_ Chin laughed to himself. His phone wouldn't stop ringing from within his kimono, and he felt it was best to let the family be. Straining to stand up, the Shinigami assigned to the city headed towards the nearest attack.

"Aaaaah! Why's there a little girl in this mausoleum!?" Kon screamed out in panic.

* * *

**Some words from the Typewriter**

-Aiko/Shan is based off of RadiantBeam's character Aiko from her fic, "What goes down must come up"

-I have the full consent of RadiantBeam to continue the plot further for chapter 5

**---**

**Fun Fact-** _"Ataenushi no Oujo"_ loosely translates to "_Death Giver/Dealer"_ whereas the Shinigami reap souls to Soul Society, the Ataenushi looked to destroy souls similarly to the Quinchy


	5. Promise cake

_This disclaimer's like the previous chapters...only better!_

**(Be sure to check back over the newly edited chapters...edited for canon use for "What goes down must come up") **_  
_

* * *

Tide 

Five months had passed since the incident, and after careful investigation, Sereitei declared the Ataenushi case closed. He made sure to leave out key notes of the rogue Shinigamis' actions—namely that of involving Rukia's daughter—and the only things discussed during the Captain's meeting was about their plot to use Hollows to attack the mortal world; copying Aizen's attempts of years ago. Still awaiting his reassignment orders, Chin found himself walking around aimlessly in a small town in Japan. It was one of those towns where everyone knew each other, and a visitor was a sore thumb amongst the populace.

It didn't take too long to find the residence of a "Rukia Kuchiki", and the elder man he had asked at a café even drew very detailed directions on a napkin. Those directions led to a small, modest flower shop, although the amount of business it was receiving clearly defied that description. "Excuse me…sumimasen…" Finally maneuvering through the crowd, the gigai encased Shinigami found a small space where he could breathe. The well decorated box in his hands wasn't damaged, so he was lucky for that.

He wandered about the flower shop until he reached the register. There, a red headed teen busied her self with the long line of people wanting to make their purchase. "I can't believe Yutaka isn't back from his break yet! How long does it take him to go out for a coffee?"

"Excuse me; do you know where I can find a Rukia Kuchiki?" He nervously asked the girl in-between her self narrated complaints.

"Can I help you?" A raven haired woman approached the register station upon hearing her name. "Oh, Chin!" Surprised at seeing the young boy, she forgot that she still wore a Chappy Bunny apron caked in soil. "Please, come into my office!" She asked embarrassed. Chin was embarrassed himself, at the sight of a noblewoman bowing to a mere Rukon commoner.

"Oh…uh…"

* * *

"So how have you been Chin-san? How's America?" 

"Everything's fine Kuchiki-sama…" Chin laughed nervously.

"Please…don't be so formal…I'm not my brother you know…" She had been zipping around the office busily as Chin was firmly planted in the chair; Rukia was very stern in him being comfortable since he was a guest. "Just call me Rukia." She placed a cup of coffee next to the well decorated box on the office table, one that Chin didn't remember asking for.

Not wanting to be rude, he took the cup and drank it. "Hai, Rukia-sama." Finally slowing down, Rukia planted herself in the main office chair behind the desk and calmly drank from her own mug. She sighed blissfully after nearly chugging the whole cup. An engraved Chappy Bunny happened to be winking just left of the handle.

"We didn't expect you to be here until next week Chin-san."

"Well, Kiyone-chan and Sentaro-sempai were very…adamant, about me not being late in delivering Ukitake-taicho's present." Chin referred to the well decorated box sitting between them. "I was also intrigued about the text message that you sent me along with the invitation, Rukia-sama. How'd Ichigo-san take it?"

"Ichigo is…well," The raven haired woman paused. "He's…Ichigo." She gazed down sweetly towards the table, but more specifically, the brilliantly blue sapphire jeweled ring decorating her finger. She toyed with it for a bit with her other hand, making sure it sat perfectly in place. "I'm guessing that Sereitei didn't have any answers either?"

"About that…with my limited resources, and Kurotsuchi-taicho being the president of the Shinigami Research Institute…no." Despite the news, Rukia was too preoccupied in watching the laughing children outside. Not wanting to continue the subject, Chin looked outside as well. "How is she?"

"Hmm? She doesn't remember a thing." She sighed, understanding the reference. She stood up to open the door just slightly and walked towards the back of the store. Followed closely by Chin, they stood and watched a ten year old raven haired girl play with other kids. She was the spitting image of her mother, with dark eyes and a similar hairstyle, she was even clutching onto a small Chappy Bunny plush as she ran about squealing in joy.

"She couldn't recall anything when we prodded her back at the cemetery, and when we woke up in the hotel room, she was back to being a young, ten year old girl …as if by magic. I know that it seems a bit selfish, but I was so happy to see her that way again."

"It all makes sense now…" Rukia looked curiously at the American Shinigami, and waited patiently for him to continue. "When I last checked on those who knew Aiko…or who knew 'Shan', everything was entirely different. Since Jo never met her, she was never introduced to Piezo and…" He caught himself when he realized that the woman didn't know who he was speaking of, and casually coughed as if to clear his throat. "Um…and Ichigo-san?"

"He's fine too. He's actually out on field duty right now." It was Chin's turn to look curiously at the mention of the term, of which Rukia reacted in laughter. "He's outside planting and tending to our customer's gardens. He hasn't let me do a thing outside the shop since that time I nearly suffered a heat stroke. His excuse is that I'm already so busy with the children." She sweetly chuckled. "Besides, it's a rarity to have Hollow attacks in a town this small." She opened the door and smiled at the small children playing. "Aiko, could you come here for a second?"

"Yeah mommy?" the small girl ran towards them cheerily. Her outwardly demeanor quickly changed and she shyly ducked and hid behind her mother; the bunny plush peeking with her at the sight of Chin.

"Don't worry Aiko…he's not a stranger. He's a friend of mine." Rukia assured the young girl. Feeling more confident, the small girl stepped out into view and curtsied.

"Hi." She softly said. "I'm Aiko, and I'm going to be eleven _whole _years old starting next week!" she chirped happily.

"Rukia, could you help me with this?" the red headed girl called from the register.

"Coming!" Rukia called back, "listen Chin, could you watch the children for a second? I'll just be up front with Nozomi." Bending down to kiss her daughter's forehead, she rushed to aid the cashier person from stemming the 'Love Day' traffic.

Honored for being considered trustworthy enough, Chin smiled wide and walked outside with the little girl. Feeling a tug on his pant leg, he bent down into a standing squat to see what the young Aiko wanted. "Hey, you need something Aiko-kun?"

"Your name's Chin, right?" her young voice asked. Surprised that she knew his name, he couldn't recall Rukia ever mentioning it in front of her daughter. Perhaps the young girl asked for a list of names of who was invited to her upcoming birthday party.

"Uh, yeah. Did your mom tell you about me already?" She shook her head as a gesture of a no and squeezed her Chappy Bunny doll tight.

"I…never got to thank you…" She said looking down. A faint blush was painted on her young face and she drew her foot nervously across the ground in front of her. "We were back in Japan by the time I remembered…I don't know _why _I do, but I do…"

"Thank me? For what?" Chin asked obliviously confused. She smiled at his response, as if she knew that's what she would receive for mentioning it.

"For saving me. Even though you told me that 'I'd just happen to be around when Hollows attacked', it was like you were looking out for me…"

"…Hehe, are you kidding? Ichigo-san did all of the work." Chin soon realized what she was talking about.

She shook her head again and smiled at his modest denial. "Nah, dads are supposed to do that kind of stuff anyways." Chin couldn't help but laugh at that. "You know, after I turn eleven, it'll only be four more years until I'm fifteen again and…and, if you're not stalking anyone else by then…" Chin ruffled the young girl's hair as she babbled, and she stopped and looked down again embarrassed.

"You're getting a little fluffy on me kid…It's kind of scary." Chin tried to joke. The young Aiko however shied away a bit more, thinking that she said too much. "But I appreciate the offer…" She looked up wearing a nervous smile and squeezed the plushy in a deadly grip.

"You know, a bunch of your mommy's friends couldn't come here to help celebrate your birthday, but they wanted to make sure that I brought you their present. You want to see it?" He effectively changed the subject.

She nodded excitedly at the mere mention of the word 'present' and waited patiently as Chin walked in through the screen door empty handed and reappeared with the beautifully decorated box. "Now I'll only let you peek if you promise me that you don't tell your mom or dad_, but there's actually a cake in here…_" he mischievously whispered.

"Uh huh, but only if you promise me something too…" She counter-offered.

"And what's that, Aiko-kun?"

"…promise me that, you won't tell mom or dad that I remember…" Chin thought long and hard on the proposal, or at least he made it seem like he did. Rather than saying something witty, he extended his hand to the young girl, with his pinky pointing up. She smiled at the simple gesture.

Curling her smaller digit around his, they pinky swore.

* * *

**Some words from the Typewriter**

I guess that's the end of this spin-off sequel. To be honest, I would've gone a lot deeper into the plot, but it wasn't really my place to do that with another's intellectual property. Maybe if I ask _really_ nicely...

This story (obviously) took place after the events of RadiantBeam's "What goes down must come up" series, but I think I managed to bring it back to canon with this ending...I hope.

Because of "Tide's" shortness, it seems a bit convoluted, like 'where the heck did the Ataenushi come from?' Meh...just don't think about it, and appreciate that this is only five chapters long. Or complain...complain long into the future for more to be written! Nah...you don't have to.

Aiko, Nozomi, Yutaka, Kai, Hisana, Married!Ichigo and Married!Rukia (in this story's sense, anyways..) are all intellectual properties of RadiantBeam and given permission to mess with their lives was given by RadiantBeam to Typewriterman for one e-dollar...and a bucket of happy...

**Fun Facts: **Jojo and Piezo are...yes! Names borrowed from two fellow fanfic-ers, JoJoDancer and Piezo! I wonder if they know about this story...


End file.
